Darwin cosmetic nurse Rachel Hale pleads guilty to ‘outrageous’ harassment and fake police report

A Darwin beautician thrust into the national spotlight over Alice Springs ‘crime crisis’ has pleaded guilty to orchestrating a seven-month-long campaign of harassment.

A Darwin cosmetic nurse has admitted to running a seven-month campaign of abuse against her Alice Springs beauty clinic rival, including sparking a fake Covid scare at the height of the pandemic.

Judge Ben O’Loughlin heard Rachel Louise Hale used fake Facebook and Instagram accounts to leave damaging reviews against a former employee who left her Alice Springs branch to start a rival cosmetic business.

The 45-year-old mother-of-two appeared in Darwin Local Court on Thursday to plead guilty to bombarding her 26-year-old victim with “menacing, harassing and offensive” texts and emails, and lodging a fake Covid-19 declaration.

The court heard Hale’s prolonged campaign was revenge following a toxic end to their five-month business relationship, which was subject to an Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruling.

Hale’s lawyer Ray Murphy said the tribunal found when the 26-year-old resigned she deleted a week of bookings and consent forms and stole the client list.

NTCAT ordered the 26-year-old to pay $700 to Hale.

Rachel Louise Hale used fake Facebook and Instagram accounts to leave damaging reviews against a former employee who left her Alice Springs branch to start a rival cosmetic business. Picture: Channel 9

Mr Murphy said it was this “antipathy” that fuelled the “ongoing campaign of harassment” from October 2021 to April 16, 2022.

Across multiple reviews Hale claimed the woman had damaged clients’ skin, was “lying, deceiving and unskilled” and “burned bridges wherever she goes”.

The court heard her victim was forced to delete her business Facebook page, as the reviews could not be removed.

Hale also filed a fake Covid report to NT Police at the peak of the Territory’s outbreak in January 2022.

In a statutory declaration Hale pretended to be her rival Alice Springs beauty business owner, reporting that said she was infected, meaning her business would need to close and she was forced to go into isolation.

Darwin cosmetic nurse Rachel Louise Hale leaves Darwin Local Court on Thursday with her lawyer Ray Murphy.

When the 26-year-old asked Hale to stop messaging her and her business, the 45-year-old texted back: “Lol. I have no idea what you’re talking about”.

Police would later find Hale had saved 77 pages of screenshots of her messages, fake profiles and reviews in folders labelled “fat f —k” and “d—head”.

Prosecutor Charlotte Maybery-Reupert said the campaign of harassment was particularly dangerous in a small town like Alice Springs.

“She’s done everything in her power to ensure the destruction of my livelihood, my reputation and my business.” her victim wrote.

“I now live in constant fear and stress of the next thing she can do to harm me.”

The Darwin cosmetic nurse was also thrust into the national spotlight for an unrelated incident after filming a violent brawl outside her hotel in Alice Springs.

Video posted on Facebook by Rachel Hale of a brawl at Alice Springs.

Labelled by many media outlets — including Sky News, Channel 10, Today, Daily Mail, 2GB and Nine Darwin — as an outback nurse, Hale was interviewed about the Alice Springs ”crime crisis” and the levels of child abuse in the Territory.

Mr Murphy said while she was previously a nurse in Don Dale, Berrimah prison, and in drug and alcohol services, Hale had primarily worked as a self-employed cosmetic nurse for years.

Mr O’Loughlin sentenced the Darwin mother to six months in prison, fully suspended for two years.

“What she has done is outrageous … an ongoing campaign of harassment apparently to intentionally inflict damage to her business,” he said.

Originally published as Darwin cosmetic nurse Rachel Hale pleads guilty to ‘outrageous’ harassment and fake police report